Smoke-house.



NITED STATES EDIVARD T. MALLOY,

Patented September 13, 1904.

OF HAMILTON, OHIO.

SMOKE-HOUSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,756, dated September 13, 1904.

Application filed January 18. 1904. Serial No. 189,508. (No model.)

To all whom, it may (Bo/warn:

Be it known that I, EDWARD T. MALLoY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hamilton, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Smoke'Houses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to smoke-houses of the class adapted to use where it is necessary to economize floor-space; and the objects of my improvement are to provide means to maintain a continuous movement of the meat or otherarticles during the smoking process that more uniformity of the curing or smoking thereof may be obtained and to provide means to facilitate the loading and the automatic unloading of the moving meat-rack.

These objects are attained in the following described manner, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a transverse diametrical section; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section; Fig. 3, a front elevation with parts broken away, and Figs. +1, 5, and 6 details of construction.

In the drawings, represents the frame or walls of the smoke-house, which is preferably a vertical structure or chute rectangular in cross-section and preferably formed of bricks or other fireproof material, 8 a furnace thereunder wherein the necessary smoke may be generated, and 9 a perforated bottom adapted to admit the smoke from the furnace to the chute. The top 10 of the structure is formed with vent-openings 11. Gear-wheels 12 are journaled on stationary spindles 13, which are secured in the side walls and near the top of the structure. Pinions 1%, mounted on shaft 15, engage with and drive the respective gearwheels. Said shaft extends laterally across the structure near the top and through the side walls, wherein it is journaled. Crank 16 is secured on one end of the shaft, and pulley 17, secured on the opposite end, communicates by belt (not shown) to the source of power. Sprocket-wheels 18 are secured on the respective gear-wheels and concentric thereto, and endless sprocket-chains 19, engaging therewith, depend therefrom nearthe respective side walls and almost to the bottom of the chute. Said chains are connected together at intervals by cross bars or rods 20, which are swiveled at their respective extremities in corresponding links 21 in the chains. Hooks 22 depend at intervals from the lateral rods and are adjustable in height therein by means of threaded nuts 23 thereon.

Opening 24; is formed in the front wall to the extent of its width and a short distance above the floor or the bottom 25 of the chute. ertically-swinging doors 26 and 27, adapted to close said opening, are hinged on the front wall at the respective bottom and top of said opening. 'hen door 26 is partly open, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, it serves as a shelf to support the material in its passage to and from the chute through the front opening therein. Said door or shelf is maintained in the partially-open position by means of joint ed braces 28, which have one of their ends pivotally secured near the respective ends of said door and their other end against the inside of the respective side walls.

Rollers 29 are mounted on the middle portion of the respective braces concentric with the joints therein and project toward each other therefrom for the purpose of bending the front portion of the sprocketchains 19 in an outward direction partially through the opening 2%, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Idlers 30 are pivotally mounted on the inside of the respective side walls a short distance below the front opening 2% to prevent the said chains 19 from coming in contact with the front wall below the opening therein or the rear portion of door 526, which door is provided with an upwardly-curved lip or flange 31, that terminates rearwardly therefrom on the plane of the interior of the front wall. hen door or shelf 26 is closed in an upward direction, braces 28 are folded inwardly, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. ,2, with rollers 29 out of contact with the chains to permit them to depend within the chute directly from the sprocket-wheels and a short distance from the front wall.

In operation doors 26 and 27 are opened, as shownin Figs. 2 and 3. In this position door 26 serves as a shelf to facilitate the passage of the meat or other material through the front opening and into engagement with the hooks on a cross-bar. W'hen one cross-bar is loaded, the crank may be used to move and maintain another cross-bar over the shelf to be loaded, and so on successively until all the bars are filled. The fireproof doors are then closed and fastened, and the smoke from the furnace is caused to fill the structure. During the time necessary to complete the smoking process the rack may be kept slowly in motion by means of power applied to the pulley or otherwise by means of the crank that the meat may be continuously moved up and down inside the chute to be uniformly acted upon by the smoke therein. To unload the rack, it is only necessary to open the doors, and as the portion of the rack adjacent thereto is permitted by the crank to descend slowly the meat is intercepted by the shelf and the rear flange thereon and automatically disengaged from the hooks, whence it may be loaded into a wagon or truck conveniently placed partially under said shelf.

Having fully described my improvement, What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination witha vertical chute, a perforated bottom therein adapted to the passage of smoke, sprocket-Wheels mounted within and near the top of the chute, endless chains depending from the respective wheels, of cross-bars pivotally engaging at intervals with the respective chains, hooks depending from said bars, and gear mechanism arranged to actuate the sprocket-wheels.

2. The combination with a vertical chute formed with an opening, avertically-swinging shelf hinged thereto at the bottom of said opening, and an endless-chain rack movable vertically within the chute, of jointed braces pivotally secured to the shelf and the chute, rollers journaled thereon arranged to pull the front portion of the rack partially through the opening when the shelf is opened, and idlers mounted within the sides of the chute, for the purpose specified.

3. The combination with a vertical chute formed with a front opening, and an endlesschain rack movably mounted therein, of a shelf hinged at the bottom of said opening, a rearwardly-projecting flange thereon, jointed braces arranged to limit the outward movement of the shelf, and rollers mounted thereon for the purpose specified.

EDW'ARD T. MALLOY. 

